October Auction of Editions & Works on Paper
Evening and Day Sessions to Feature Over 400 Works by
Picasso, Moore, Bacon, Twombly, Bourgeois, Motherwell, and Warhol
NEW YORK – 24 SEPTEMBER 2018 – This year’s final Editions sale at Phillips will take place on Wednesday, 17 October, in New York. Featuring over 400 lots in total, the auction will consist of an Evening Session at 6pm, offering 118 works of art, and Day Sessions at 10am and 2pm, featuring a total of 287 works. Included in the auction are editioned prints and multiples by modern and contemporary masters such as Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Cy Twombly. Additionally, the auction features over 30 complete printmaking sets by artists such as Jonas Wood, John Chamberlain, Keith Haring, KAWS, Josef Albers and Robert Ryman, allowing collectors to immerse themselves in artists’ masterwork with the medium.
Cary Leibowitz and Kelly Troester, Worldwide Co-Heads of Editions, said, “Following our record-breaking Spring season, we are delighted to bring such a strong selection of material to the market this fall. Our October sale offers a breadth of Modern, Post-War, and Pop works, including an exceptional group by female artists such as Wangechi Mutu, Ellen Gallagher, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith and Julie Mehretu, across the category. We are also honored to have been entrusted with property from the acclaimed collection of Howard and Linda Karshan, from which we will offer 10 important works, including pieces by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Walter de Maria, Robert Ryman and Brice Marden, among others.”
Modern Works
There is a strong representation of British artists in the sale, particularly in the Modern offerings. The earliest of these works is Nocturne, an atmospheric etching by James Whistler. Three bronze sculptures by Henry Moore – Maquette for Seated Woman, Male Torso and Three-Quarter Figure: Chest – will all be included in the Evening Session. In addition, Phillips will offer two bronze sculptures by Lynn Chadwick R.A., depicting his iconic cloaked figures, which were both cast in 1986 and acquired by the present owner directly from the artist. Francis Bacon’s Deuxième version du triptyque (Second Version of the Triptych), 1944, and Étude pour un portrait de John Edwards (Study for a Portrait of John Edwards), along with Lucian Freud’s Head of a Man will also be included in the Evening Session.
As announced previously, Phillips is honored to be selling works from the Estate of Howard Karshan throughout the Fall 2018/Spring 2019 season. Over the course of nearly 50 years, Howard Karshan and his wife Linda assembled one of the most significant collections of modern and post-war works of art. Ten lots from the Karshan Collection will be included in the New York Editions auction on 17 October, with five being featured in the Evening Session and five in the Day Session. Leading the group is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Débauche. Executed in 1896, this lithograph is one of only three examples printed on silk – one impression is in the collection of the Boston Public Library. It was purchased in 1973 making it one of the earliest acquired works in the collection and is one of Lautrec’s most fluidly drawn and erotic images. The Editions sales will also include a rare set of template drawings by Walter de Maria from 1975-6, a set of Brice Marden and Robert Ryman etchings, and a unique monoprint by Ellen Gallagher.
Also among the Modern works are a selection of 17 Picasso ceramics, including two Wood-owl (Chouette) pieces (illustrated below, right), Joan Miró’s large-scale Le Permissionaire (Soldier on Leave), and examples by Alberto Giacometti, Diego Rivera, Lyonel Feininger, and Lucio Fontana.
Post-War & Contemporary Works
Leading the auction is the rarely complete 10-piece portfolio, Flowers, by Andy Warhol that was executed in 1970. These works were Warhol’s decorative and rebellious response to modernist painting. The hypnotic repetition of these Andy Warhol Marilyn, 1967 Estimate: $150,000-250,000
A breakout group of editions by Roy Lichtenstein in the auction will offer a wide-ranging selection of the artist’s work from 1968-1996. Four works by Keith Haring are also among the Pop highlights of the sale, including a complete set of four Pop Shop II screenprints from 1988. Twelve striking Alexander Calder lithographs will be offered for the first time (separately), having resided in the same private collection in Chicago since they were purchased directly from Galerie Maeght in Paris and Zurich during the early 1970s.
Works by other American artists play a strong role in the selection of Post-War and Contemporary works to be offered in the October Editions auction. A complete set of Cy Twombly’s Five Greek Poets and a Philosopher will be featured, along with three screenprints of Jonas Wood’s Matisse Pots, a 1969 screenprint of Ed Ruscha’s Cheese Mold Standard with Olive, and a complete series of six etchings by Walton Ford comprising Swadeshi-cide, 1998; La Historia Me Absolvera, 1999; Benjamin's Emblem, 2000; Tale of Johnny Nutkin, 2001; Compromised, 2003; and Visitation, 2004.
Works by Robert Motherwell, Frank Stella, Josef Albers, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, David Hockney, Ellsworth Kelly, Mike Kelley, and Richard Pettibone also figure prominently in the Post-War and Contemporary selection.